Computer aided design in civil/structural engineering, state of art

review and future trend

Many may not know that the CAD industry has been around since the 50's. It started off with
various confusing acronyms but the most typical was CADD “Computer Aided Drafting and
Design” and the commonly known CAD “Computer Aided Design”.

It is argued that a turning point was the development of the sketchpad system at MIT by Ivan
Sutherland (who later created a graphics technology company with David Evans). The distinctive
feature of sketchpad was that it allowed the designer to interact with his computer graphically:
the design can be fed into the computer by drawing on a CRT monitor with a light pen.
Effectively, it was a prototype of graphical user interface, an indispensable feature of modern
CAD. Sutherland presented his paper Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication
System in 1963 at a Joint Computer Conference having worked on it as his PhD thesis paper for
a few years. Doug Ross's MIT APT research assistant) to develop a prototype system for design
engineers DAC-1 (Design Augmented by Computer) 1964. Only large corporations could afford
the computers capable of performing the calculations.
CAD implementations have evolved dramatically since then. Initially, with 3D in the 1970s, it
was typically limited to producing drawings similar to hand-drafted drawings. Advances in
programming and computer hardware, notably solid modeling in the 1980s have allowed more
versatile applications of computers in design activities.Key products for 1981 were the solid
modeling packages - Romulus (ShapeData) and Uni-Solid (Unigraphics) based on PADL-2 and
the release of the surface modeler CATIA(Dassault Systemes). Autodesk was founded 1982 by
John Walker, which led to the 2D system AutoCAD. The next milestone was the release
of Pro/ENGINEER in 1987, which heralded greater usage of feature-based modeling methods
and parametric linking of the parameters of features. Also of importance to the development of
CAD was the development of the B-rep solid modeling kernels (engines for manipulating
geometrically and topologically consistent 3D objects) Parasolid (ShapeData) and ACIS (Spatial
Technology Inc.) at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, both inspired by the work
of Ian Braid. This led to the release of mid-range packages such as SolidWorks and TriSpective
(later known as IRONCAD) in 1995, Solid Edge (then Intergraph) in 1996 and Autodesk
Inventor in 1999. An independent geometric modeling kernel has been evolving in Russia since
the 1990s.
In the 60’s the CAD industry was just starting but, initial hardware and software running at the
time known as the workstation was not cost effective. Many companies used hand drafting as a
typical approach to civil engineering design. During this time a construction plan set didn’t have
a lot of redundant information. Having this kind of information would have made changing the
design especially at the end of a project very tedious and time consuming. A great deal of plan
set review also had to be implemented due the sheer strain of doing everything by hand. This
type of drafting continued in some regions of the US until the 1980’s.
As time passed hand drafting became a thing of the past and the CAD industry became a major
player in how a construction plan set was produced. As it got easier to obtain workstations and
trained employees, various different civil software programs were marketed each having their
own pros and cons. Even though everything was still designed by hand, technology made it
easier by putting the calculations into a 2D line work form. It was still manual drafting. The
workstation became an extension of the technician. It lessened the amount of strain on the
designers, but still required the same amount of plan set review. Slowly the CAD industry
standard was set and stayed there unchanged for some time.

Since the beginning of the 2000’s, the technology has pushed the CAD industry into the three
dimensional realm. CAD software now allows one to create a virtual model of a project instead
of just 2D line work. This virtual model has the capability of using clash detection for conflicts
in underground or in building utility lines, updating quantities on the fly and text labeling now
reads straight off the model. This makes a complex set of construction plans, with today’s push
for redundant information, actually easy to produce and easy to change at any point in the
project.
So far we’ve managed to discuss the history of CAD, where it originated and how it progressed.
We’ve even looked at the evolution of the technology now we are going to discuss its future.
Augmented Reality is technology that allows real-time visualization of CAD models in the real-
world environment. Companies like Augment have created apps that allow designers to view
their 3D models from SketchUp, Revit, SolidWorks and other CAD software. Virtual Reality, by
comparison, immerses a user in a simulated world using a headset. It’s also been useful in CAD,
allowing designers to interact with models directly. Companies like Virtalis and Mindesk are
working with CAD companies like Autodesk and SolidWorks to integrate VR into their software
offerings. Autodesk is also looking to make its software compatible with Microsoft’s VR
product HoloLens, which will have an exciting impact on CAD.
Cloud-based CAD has already been reached by some CAD companies—with many more
looking towards it in the near future. With this trend comes the possibility of never having to
worry about software updates ever again. With cloud-based CAD, the software would be
available in your browser, without the need for upgrades or downloads. In addition, issues
like data management might even become obsolete. There’s no need to save several copies of a
design or worry about overwritten data when your cloud-based CAD software is able to track
everything you do.
A major upcoming trend in CAD is the concept of CAD technology being able to ‘think‘—
anticipating a designer’s next move and making a reciprocating move accordingly. This is
otherwise known as ‘Generative Design‘. Designers will soon be able to choose the best design
solution by working alongside computers to create an ideal design. Autodesk is currently
working on Dream Catcher—a program that can generate hundreds of unique designs in hours,
as opposed to the days it can take a human to create a single design. This will surely have a huge
impact on the CAD industry in the coming years.
Many anticipate a fully immersive 3D experience with CAD in the future. This may include
modeling tools like special gloves and goggles (as opposed to headsets), making the process
closer to sculpting than painting. There’s also the possibility of bringing voice commands into
the fold. This would enable designers to draw and control CAD with their own voice. Of course,
CAD requires a lot of precision, so a lot of work needs to be done to ensure that designers have
the maximum accuracy required—whether it’s for touchscreen technology or voice commands.
Essentially, the most important aspects of future CAD technology and software
are ease and speed it’s all about making the design process fast, efficient and convenient
References
 Cunningham-Allen
 Wikipidea
 Narayan, K. Lalit (2008). Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing. New Delhi:
Prentice Hall of India. p. 3. ISBN 812033342X
 Duggal, Vijay (2000). Cadd Primer: A General Guide to Computer Aided Design and
Drafting-Cadd, CAD. Mailmax Pub. ISBN 978-0962916595
 www.scan2cad.com